The Vibe by DJ Veekay - To Cover One's Tracks (04/22/2023)

Welcome back to the vibe! This week, I thought I’d take a look at something a little different.

We all know what happens when someone like you or I falls in love with a song. We sing it. We listen to it on repeat. We buy concert tickets to go and hear it live. We download it on Spotify or buy CDs and vinyl to get that tune just right. We want to hear the song in as many ways as possible to show our dedication to it. What if you have some musical talent? You learn how to play the song yourself. Might even record yourself and put it on Youtube. Might even send it to the band to see if you can get acknowledged by your heroes. Those dreams do come true and we hear about it all the time. What if not only did you have musical talent, but you had a band and really wanted to show your love for a tune? You get a cover song.

This week, I’ll be taking a look at some cover songs that I really enjoy. Hopefully, you might find your new favorite version of a song, too! I’ll show you that hopping under the covers with DJ Veekay might be the best night of your life.

Wild Thing - X - Wild Thing/Devil Doll 45 Release (1983)

Wild Thing - X - Wild Thing/Devil Doll 45 Release (1983)

“Wild Thing

You make my heart sing”

Legendary tune. Wild Thing was originally Written for a band called The Wild Ones by composer Chip Taylor. Their version failed to sell, and was subsequently covered by The Troggs in 1966, which is the version that most people assume is the original due to its popularity.

Wild Thing is one of those songs that has been covered by a million different people in a million different styles, the legendary Jimi Hendrix being among those. My favorite version is this one by X. It has that 1980s hair metal sound that I fell in love with in highschool. The power of the guitar and the added raw energy of the solo does the trick for me.

I remember it as Charlie Sheen’s walkout music, as he played Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn in Major League. I can always picture the gate opening and him walking out as the guitar slide at the beginning brings in the tone for the song. I am also a pro wrestling fan, and there is one man who changes the energy of an entire arena with his entrance to Wild Thing. Jon Moxley.

“Wild thing I… I think I love you”

Blue on Black - Five Finger Death Punch - Blue on Black Collaboration Single (2019)

Produced by Five Finger Death Punch & Kevin Churko - Originally written by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mark Selby & Tia Sillers

A song about relationships that become overbearing, where one half of it takes over the other half when combined. Originally by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, this song was originally covered by Five Finger Death Punch for their 2018 album And Justice for None. 

“Whisper on a scream never change a thing

Does it bring you back?

It’s blue on black”

I have found that metal bands do some of the better covers of songs. My running theory is that because they are metal, and not in the mainstream of popular music, they do a cover of a song that is more well known and in a style closer to hard rock than metal. Thus, giving them exposure in the mainstream of music. It really does show that the headbangers do have musical talent too, they just express it in forms that are much heavier and powerful. There is another band I’ll talk about at the end that has been successful with this technique.

This version of the cover was released in 2019, and features guitarist Brian May of Queen, country rock singer Brantley Gilbert, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd himself. The power behind this one placed it firmly on my gym playlist.

Dive - Luke Combs - Spotify Singles (2018)

Produced by Benny Blanco - Originally written by Ed Sheeran, Julia Michaels & Benny Blanco

Someone very close to me shared this cover with me. I was not a huge country music lover before the last six months, and they’ve shown me some of my favorite country tracks. I knew the Ed Sheeran original version before this, but this version really tickles my fancy.

I am a self-confessed Luke Combs lover now. That man is holding it down for all the big guys and working men out there. His version of Dive brings it back to the basics. No pop music extras. A couple of guitars and some soft drum beats to get the real love song slow dance experience. The southern vibes really fit with the lyrics, and Luke Combs knocks this cover out of the park.

“I’ve traveled the world

And there’s no other girl like you

No one”

There is an excellent live cut of this cover, with both Luke Combs and Ed Sheeran sharing verses. It is worth checking out if you enjoy the tune! Grab hold of your girl, throw this on, and sway nice and slow with her. She’ll love it.

Hurt - Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002)7)

Produced by Rick Rubin - Originally written by Trent Reznor

This is one that not a lot of people know is a cover song. The original song was written and performed by Nine Inch Nails, and was released as their final track on their 1994 album, The Downward Spiral.

There is something about the Johnny Cash version that changes the whole feeling of the song. The angst and anger that Reznor had in the same song, singing the same lyrics, changes to much more of a sad tone when sung by an elderly Cash at this point in his career.

“I hurt myself today

To see if I still feel”

Personally, my favorite version of this song is still the Nine Inch Nails version, and I’ll never forget seeing it live in Toronto in 2014 with Soundgarden opening for them. Seeing them outdoors in the pouring rain, I will never forget the image of Trent Reznor with an acoustic guitar in a single spotlight, with the lightning crashing into the skyscrapers of Toronto in the background. I can still hear his voice singing the chorus if I close my eyes and really think.

Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother’s Milk (1989)

Produced by Michael Beinhorn - Originally written by Stevie Wonder

It’s hard to improve on an original. I love both versions of this song for the pure stylistic changeup between them.

The original version of Higher Ground was written and recorded by Stevie Wonder for his 1973 revolutionary album Innervisions. The album itself won three Grammy awards, and the album has been cited as one of the key albums that shaped soul and black music. The original has that 70s funk to it. It’s not in your face and it’s a great tune to groove to. Grateful, again, to have seen Stevie Wonder do it live in 2015.

The Chili’s version of the tune is the opposite. Gone is the synthesizer and in with the bass grooves of Flea. Right in that sweet spot in time where we were seeing the transition from the hair metal and blooming of pop music, and into alternative rock and grunge. This cover shows the hair rock guitar but combines it with the funk of Flea behind the bass, as well as Chad Smith’s power drumming. It brings a whole new level to the song.

Not knocking the original, as I am a fan of both, but I would take the RHCP version any day of the week.

Feeling Good - Muse - Origin of Symmetry (2001)

Produced by John Leckie, Dominic Howard, Chris Wolstenholme & Matt Bellamy - Originally written by Anthony Newley & Leslie Brichusse

Another song makes this list with about a million covers by a million different artists, Feeling Good was originally a song written for a musical titled The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd (1964). Nina Simone would cover it for her 1965 album I Put a Spell on You and bring it to the charts.

I love the Muse cover of the song mainly for the musical punch during the chorus, and the slow piano valleys of the verses between. The vocal talents of Matthew Bellamy are on full display for this cover, high notes and wails, vocally building with the song and floating along with the tones of the instruments. 

Had a chance to see these guys but had to cancel at the last minute. I’m sure they’ll be in my neck of the woods again sometime soon, but they are still one of the ones that got away from me until then.

Land of Confusion - Disturbed -Ten Thousand Fists (2005)

Produced by Johnny Karkazis & Disturbed - Originally written by Phil Collins, Tony Banks & Mike Rutherford

I mentioned at the beginning about my running theory on metal band cover songs. When I saw Disturbed in 2016, along with Breaking Benjamin, their big song was a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence. I never got to hear Land of Confusion. Well, I never got to hear it by Disturbed.

This is the first case of me having seen both of these acts in my lifetime. I saw Genesis, who originally did Land of Confusion for their 1986 album Invisible Touch, as my very first ever concert in September of 2007. I was 10. I still remember the stage effects and the screen. I remember them playing Follow You Follow Me and I Can’t Dance, those songs becoming some of my go to songs after that show.

“And these are the hands we’re given

Use them and let’s start trying

To make it a place worth living in”

From my first ever concert, Ten Thousand Fists was one of the first CDs I ever bought with my own money. That and City of Evil by Avenged Sevenfold I got at the same time. I always remember playing the CD for my dad, and him hearing the Land of Confusion cover and saying

“Why would you listen to this version when the Genesis version is better?”